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Hails and Ales Club

Albums of the Year 1984 - as chosen by users of the Fediverse

The call went out. The votes were cast. Now the results are in. The Fediverse has voted for the best album of the year from 1984. I am aware that as I mostly post about Metal that there may be a bias towards that in the people who follow me and see the post, however, there is a lot of different music represented in the results and a lot of things to check out.

When we did 1985 on a previous post, a few people said that there were great albums either side of that year so based on this, as well as the number of people who specifically asked for this year, it seemed right to do 1984 next.

As mentioned above, there was another good spread of artists and genres represented so let’s dig into the details!

The overall winner of album of the year 1984 was Ride the Lightning by Metallica. Whilst this wasn’t my personal choice, it’s my favourite Metallica album and I do love it so I am okay with this result. I’m sure they will be thrilled. If you haven’t heard this album, I recommend downloading it from Napster.

This time round there was also a standalone album taking the silver medal. Second place, and my personal choice, was Powerslave by Iron Maiden. This is my second favourite Maiden album and given they’re one of my all time favourite bands this is an album I hold in high regard.

Whilst gold and silver were out on their own, there is actually a three way tie for the bronze medal. With an equal amount of votes, third place is shared by:

Purple Rain by Prince

Zen Arcade by Hüsker Dü

1984 by Van Halen

Purple Rain by Prince is an all time classic which I love. I am currently ranking every Prince album so look forward to a post on that when I eventually finish. 1984 is an album I like but can only remember bits of. Maybe a revisit is in order. I don’t think I have ever heard Zen Arcade so I guess I will have to rectify that immediately.

Beyond the podium though there were other great albums that got voted for and they are as follows:

Morbid Tales by Celtic Frost

Junk Culture by OMD

The Smiths by The Smiths

Brewing Up With Billy Bragg by Billy Bragg

She’s So Unusual by Cyndi Lauper

Grace Under Pressure by Rush

Stay Hungry by Twisted Sister

A Walk Across the Rooftops by The Blue Nile

Fistful of Metal by Anthrax

Cafe Bleu by The Style Council

Heartbeat City by The Cars

Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads

Brilliant Trees by David Sylvian

Trouble by Trouble

Ocean Rain by Echo & the Bunnymen

Don’t Break the Oath by Mercyful Fate

Mirror Moves by Psychedelic Furs

Fugazi by Marillion

Mister Heartbreak by Laurie Anderson

Let it Be by The Replacements

So that’s 1984 wrapped up. Where should we go next? Reach out and let me know.

Hails!